Narconon of Georgia surrenders license, avoids prosecution
A controversial Norcross drug treatment facility with ties to the Church of Scientology will avoid any potential criminal charges after surrendering its license to the state.
But the investigation into allegations of insurance fraud by those running the facility isn’t over, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said.
“Narconon as a corporate entity has been relieved of criminal liability but no individual is,” Porter said Wednesday. “Certainly we’ve discovered discrepancies between what was billed and what was provided. The key now is to identify those individuals who were submitting the claims.”
The deal reached between Narconon and Porter follows a decade’s worth of state probes into complaints that the facility, licensed as an outpatient clinic, was illegally operating a residential unit. In December, the state Department of Community Health informed Narconon that it was revoking the facility’s license after uncovering sworn statements from its executive director confirming that it was knowingly operating as a residential program.
Soon after, the state insurance commissioner and Porter launched an investigation into allegations by the mother of a former patient who said her insurer was billed $166,275 for doctor visits that never occurred and treatment that was never provided. State investigators said they had uncovered nearly $3 million in alleged insurance fraud by Narconon of Georgia.
For more, read Thursday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution and visit MyAJC.com.
About the Author
A native Atlantan, Boone joined the AJC staff in 2007. He quickly carved out a niche covering crime stories, assuming the public safety beat in 2014. He's covered some of the biggest trials this decade, from Hemy Neuman to Ross Harris to Chip Olsen, the latter of which was featured on Season 7 of the AJC's award-winning "Breakdown" podcast.
